New Orleans City Council considers eliminating bonds for minor offenses

The New Orleans City Council is considering an ordinance that could help some people avoid spending time in jail.

Share

Shares

Copy Link

{copyShortcut} to copy
Link copied!

Updated: 12:23 PM CDT Sep 21, 2016

Hide TranscriptShow Transcript

WEBVTT >> EVEN A DAY IN JAIL CAN BE A MESS FOR PEOPLE'S LIVES. CASEY: THIS GROUP STOOD REPRESENTING 22 ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING AN ORDINANCE TO REMOVE MONEY BAIL AND PRE-TRIAL JAIL TIME FOR MOST MUNICIPAL OFFENSES. >> WE ARE TALKING ABOUT MOTHERS WHO HAVE TO PICK UP THEIR CHILDREN FROM SCHOOL. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO WORK JOBS THAT IF YOU MISSED JUST ONE DAY, YOU WILL LOOSE YOUR JOB. >> GETTING INVOLVED IN THE SYSTEM IS COSTLY OF TIME AND MONEY. CASEY: BILL QUIGLEY A LOYOLA LAW PROFESSOR SAYS CURRENT BAIL PRACTICES ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND THIS ORDINANCE WOULD BE PROACTIVE HELP THE CITY AVOID COSTLY LAWSUITS. >> PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE IN JAIL JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO POOR TO BAIL OUT. OVER THE LAST 18 MONTHS, THERE HAVE BEEN 12 LAWSUITS AROUND THE COUNTRY SAYING FOLLOWING MISDEMEANOR ARREST YOU CANNOT HOLD PEOPLE IN JAIL IF THEY DON'T HAVE THE MONEY. CASEY: BUT DOCTOR ROBERT MORRIS A FORMER CRIMINOLOGY PROFESSOR IN DALLAS SAYS WHEN PEOPLE FAIL TO APPEAR IN COURT IT'S ALREADY COSTING THE CITY. >> EVERY PERSON WHO FAILS TO APPEAR, THE MINIMUM COST FOR THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IS $7,500. NATALIE COUNCILMEN JASON : WILLIAMS AND JAMES GRAY QUESTIONED WHETHER THE POLICE SHOULD ARREST ON CERTAIN CRIMES

New Orleans City Council considers eliminating bonds for minor offenses

The New Orleans City Council is considering an ordinance that could help some people avoid spending time in jail.

The New Orleans City Council is considering an ordinance that could help some people avoid spending time in jail.

The ordinance would abolish bail for some minor offenses so the accused could be released and given a date to return to court.

Advertisement

The ordinance, which was heard by the Criminal Justice Committee of City Council, drew plenty of voices from advocacy groups, clergy, professors, judges and bail bondsmen.

Those in favor said the ordinance would allow people to continue with their day-to-day lives without being forced to stay in jail while they wait to go to court because they cannot afford to make bail.

Councilwoman Susan Guidry introduced the ordinance after the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition spent a year advocating for it.

The proposed law would eliminate money bail and pretrial detention for most municipal offenses, including loitering, public intoxication or public urination. The exceptions in the ordinance include people charged with domestic violence, battery and illegally carrying weapons.

Advocates argued that poor people should not be forced to stay in jail just because they are poor, and that even a day in jail can be detrimental to a person's life.

"The only purpose that bond serves is to ensure someone's presence in court, and at that point the person charged is veiled in a cloak of innocence," said former public defender Nia Weeks. "We're asking for a legally innocent person to be able to walk the street, work, take care of their family while they wait for adjudication of their charge."

If passed, proponents said the ordinance would reduce the jail population by reducing the number of people in Orleans Parish Prison waiting for their cases to go to trial.

According to data, there were 1,124 bookings for municipal offenses in the first seven months of 2016, and the average length of stay for that population was three days.

Members of the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition said most people found guilty of municipal charges face little if any jail time as a sentence, but they might wait in jail for weeks for trial if they do not have the money for bond or do not plead guilty.

Some opponents worry that the ordinance would create other problems.

"This legislation isn't the right means, in part because you have a huge unforeseen burden being shifted to the Police Department," said Kevin Stewart.

Ministers in the group Concerned Clergy of New Orleans said the ordinance does not address other systemic issues, such as a need for more public services for offenders.

"Some of this sounds great about releasing, but are we releasing people to come back viciously into this cycle?" said Frederick Henderson. "People are coming in with issues and problems that nobody seems to want to be able to help out with."

Steve Donnes, who owns Statewide Bail Bonds, which operates in 10 parishes, said the average bond amount in Louisiana is $2,500, and he writes five to 10 bonds a day for municipal crimes.

"If they let you out at 10 p.m. tonight, you've got to go to court at 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. You're going to miss work anyway, so to say they're going to miss work because they're in jail, the system and getting involved in the system unfortunately is costly of time (and) it costs money," Donnes said.

Bill Quigley, a Loyola University law professor, said current bail practices are unconstitutional, and the ordinance would be a proactive measure to help the city avoid costly lawsuits.

"People should not be in jail just because they're too poor to bail out. That's the law, and it's been the law for decades." Quigley said. "Over the last 18 months, there have been 12 to 15 lawsuits around the country saying (that for) nonviolent misdemeanor arrests, you can't hold people in jail because they don't have the money."

But Robert Morris, who holds a doctorate in criminology and is a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, said that when people fail to appear in court, it also costs the city.

"For every single failure to appear, the cost to the county or the justice system is a minimum of $1,775, and that's just to keep the lights on. That's just to process them," Morris said.

Councilmen Jason Williams and James Gray questioned whether police should arrest people on certain crimes at all.

"If a person has committed an offense so minor that we all are thinking about agreeing he ought to be released on an ROR (released on recognizance) or without any consideration from anyone, you might say then, 'Why did we arrest that person?'" Gray said.

Councilwoman Stacy Head expressed concern that some offenders could get out without any type of helpful intervention by a judge, and questioned what pretrial measures are in place to ensure that defendants return for their assigned court dates.

Keep up with local news, weather and current events with the WDSU app here.